US fines ExxonMobil $2M for violating Russian sanctions

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

ExxonMobil was fined $2 million for violating sanctions against Russia in 2014, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The violations occurred in May of that year when the now Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was CEO of ExxonMobil, according to a filing by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The compoany signed eight legal documents related to oil and gas projects in Russia with Igor Sechin, president of Russian oil giant Rosneft, OFAC said.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order that imposed sanctions on Russia in March 2014 and the Treasury Department included Sechin on the list a month later, the OFAC said.

"Despite these prohibitions and ExxonMobil's global market and sophistication, ExxonMobil moved forward with signing the legal documents with designated person Igor Sechin between on or about May 14, 2014 and on or about May 23, 2014," the filing read.

ExxonMobil said in a statement it launched a legal challenge against the OFAC's findings.

In court papers filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division, the company said that it “followed authoritative and specific guidance from the Obama administration that OFAC retroactively changed a year later.

"At the time those documents were executed in 2014, Rosneft was not subject to any sanctions, and no sanctions prohibited the activities called for or reflected in those documents," it added.

With rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine in 2014, western powers, including the U.S., imposed economic and technological sanctions against Moscow.

ExxonMobil left Russia in October 2014, a month later the Treasury Department ordered the company to "wind down" its operations in that country.

The energy giant's request to return to Russia for oil and gas activities was rejected in April by the Treasury because of existing sanctions.

Tillerson recused himself from actions by the State Department related to ExxonMobil after he took office in February.